'Balance' can bring balance to your savings ambition

Startup showcase

Saving money for posterity and for oneself has always been a human trait. Since we are living in a world where speed and technology has conquered everything, the saving habit, which formed a part of one’s upbringing in the form of a piggy bank, has also undergone dramatic changes.

Balance, an app-based FinTech started by IIT Kanpur-graduate Ankit Kumar, helps you save automatically in clever little ways. “Like a majority of urban millennials, I was clueless about how and when to start saving money when I started transactions in life,” he says.

Besides the difficulty in understanding financial jargons and identifying where to save, Kumar says it is risky to make an investment decision. “The Balance app helps you save money automatically by understanding your spending habits through a proprietary spend analytic engine,” Kumar says.

“The Balance app is a personal accountant that we all need, while we focus on living our lives and reaching our goals. It allows individuals to invest in low-risk mutual funds with no lock-in period and exit load, promising returns of up to 8.7%,” he says.
“We have already partnered with online brokerage Zerodha, and its Kite API allows one tap integration with the Zerodha Kite account for users to instantly get started with saving on Balance,” he adds.

The app also offers a tax saver goal, which automates Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS) saving directly into tax-saving mutual funds by asset management companies such as ICICI Prudential. “We will continue to innovate with more partners to make the process of saving money easy,” he says.

When asked about the regulatory issues, which grip the industry as it grows, Kumar said his company welcomes regulatory changes.

“We welcome the fast paced innovation that Sebi and the government are enabling to make it easier for more people in the country to be financially included, and do more with their hard earned money,” he adds.

Commenting on the back-end technology, he said Balance uses some of the latest in design and technology, ranging from our conversational UI ( user interface), intelligent goals that chat with the user, and   innovation, including a way to save loose change or ‘chillar’ from every online spend by automatically recognising the spend and rounding it off.

Balance has raised Rs 1.5 crore from discount broking firm Zerodha, which was invested through its Rainmatter fund. The company has a lean team with seven members, and the funding will help them hire designers and developers.

“Saving is a ubiquitous concept and we know what we are building is relevant to a larger global audience. India, however, is a great market with amazing depth and scope, and we aim to focus on growing here to start with,” he says.